This thing about Christmas

What’s the meaning of Christmas? Can you have the celebration without Christ?

The commercial Christmas we now see and know is so far from its origins. I consulted the scholarly work of the philosopher of the internet age Google Search. Interestingly, these are the things I’ve discovered.

For more than 300 years after His time, Christians celebrated Jesus’ resurrection but not His birth. Christmas celebration was even banned in 17th-century England when Oliver Cromwell and his puritan followers gained temporary rule, forbidding what was called the “heathen celebration.”The holiday was also banned in colonial New England, and Christmas wasn’t made a legal holiday in Massachusetts until 1856.

The observance began in fourth-century Rome, timed to coincide with a midwinter pagan festival honoring the imperial army’s sun god, Mithra. The December date was used to celebrate Jesus’ birthday.

But the precise day of Jesus’birth is unknown. Even the year is uncertain. It’s not in the year 1 A.D., as the calendar’s Anno Domini (Year of the Lord) suggests. The dating system was derived from an error about the year of Christ’s birth by Dionysius Exigus, a sixth-century monk in Rome, while working out the starting point of the Christian era. Scholars since have calculated Jesus’ birth to be around 6 or 7 B.C. paradoxically means “Before Christ”. The revised time was determined partly by the fact that Herod the Great ruled Judea when Jesus was born and history says that Herod died in 4 B.C. In what month or on what day was the birth has been a matter of speculation for centuries. Possible dates include Jan. 6, Feb. 2, March 25, April 19, May 20, Oct. 4 and Nov. 17.

A British physicist and astronomer, David Hughes, has calculated Jesus’ birthdate to be Sept. 17, 7 B.C. This is based on various scientific evidence, including the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation Pisces on that date. In a book, he concluded that this planetary conjunction was the “star” seen by the wise men. Similarly, the 17th-century German astronomer, Johannes Kepler, had calculated a three-planet conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn and Venus in the same constellation and in the same year. (But I’m not too sure about this scientific basis. The Bible says that the star moved and finally settled on the house where the Child was staying.)

A variety of months and days have been used over the centuries in different parts of the world to celebrate the occasion. For all of the clouded history of Christmas, however, the biggest mystery is in its message – that God has become human, has become one of us, to be with us, out of great love for us. 

Atheists shouldn’t celebrate the season, because the season is really about a person: Christ, who is God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth,” the Bible says. This is the mystifying core of Christmas, an awesome concept that has challenged hearts and minds ever since. It holds that Jesus was truly human, sharing the nature of all people, yet also truly God. “Emmanuel – God with us… The Light of the world…” Scripture calls Him.

That, my friends, is the true meaning of Christmas. So here’s my humble take on this: do not celebrate the season. Celebrate the person!

A blessed Christmas to you and your family!

(Mark your calendar for next year! Spend two inspiring days with Francis Kong, learning leadership and life skills, as he presents Level Up Leadership on Jan. 21-22 at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel. For further inquiries, contact Inspire at 09158055910, or call 632-6310912 for details.)